FCC.gov Updates Garnering Generally Positive Feedback

The new iteration of FCC.gov is functional and -- at the very least -- doesn't make the site less usable, unlike the last upgrade and redesign, communications regulation practitioners told us Friday, the second day it had been live. "It seems to be easier to read, generally more like what you'd expect a modern website to look like," said Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld: "It looks like my internal bookmarks to things like ECFS [Electronic Comment Filing System] still work."

The FCC moved to its redesigned website Thursday after working on updates for more than a year. The agency said in a blog post announcing the move that the new site promises improved search capability and site navigation structure. The agency previously said one of the biggest changes is the move from a flat structure with no hierarchy of information and a lack of links tying content together to a much bigger focus on such links and hierarchy and multiple routes to accessing the same content (see 1511180035). The site's new design is intended to be more modern looking and device responsive, making adjustments depending on whether the user is on a computer, tablet or mobile device, the blog said.

Integrating some documents from the Electronic Document Management System (EDOCS) to pages on the new site lagged behind the switchover to the new site, the net effect being some links didn't work until that integration work was done, an agency spokesman said Friday. The website went down for a few minutes Friday afternoon due to bugs related to the revamping, the spokesman said.

The last FCC.gov change, in early 2014, got numerous complaints that the changes and redesign had made the system less usable or user friendly, with it worsening navigation to reports and functions (see 1401150030). "This go-around is better," with databases and individual bureau pages having been much more directly accessible, said satellite lawyer Stephanie Roy of Steptoe & Johnson. Getting to the International Bureau Filing System had been a multiple-click process, "now it's one," she said. The 2014 revamp "was a much bigger change and took more getting used to," said communications lawyer Stephen Lovelady at Fletcher Heald. "This seems more like a minor upgrade. I don't see much change -- it's maybe a little clearer. It doesn't hinder me, so that's all I care about."

While the 2014 revamping "was not the greatest upgrade ever imagined," critiques of it "were a little harsh," PK's Feld said. This time around, people who use the site infrequently or are first-time users "are more likely to find this useful," he said, pointing to some visual changes "that make it clearer and easier to navigate intuitively. Things are actually designed more to make sense." With his bookmarks to ECFS and Daily Digest intact, Feld said, "It doesn't seem like we've lost anything. It doesn't do anything bad for regular users."